Chapter Fifteen
HOMEWARD BOUND
Hours filled with packing and last minute details took their time upalmost until the actual hour of the departure of their plane. Theyfinished finally at midnight and they were to take the four o'clockeastbound plane for the midwest. New schedules had been inauguratedsince they had come west and they would be home in time for dinner thatnight.
Helen's mother came in.
"You girls must get some sleep, or you'll look pretty much worn out whenyou reach Clarion."
"I'm too excited to sleep," confessed Janet.
"Then let's take a swim in the pool. That ought to relax us," urgedHelen.
They slipped into their suits and for nearly half an hour enjoyed thepool. The moon was well up in the cloudless sky and it was an idealnight. Neither girl said very much, just floated on the pool, wonderingwhat the coming weeks would have in store for them.
When they finally emerged from the water they were ready to call it aday and they were sound asleep by one o'clock.
Mrs. Thorne called them at three. It was still dark, but a hot breakfastwas ready for them in the dining room. Even up to the last minute itseemed as though there were a host of things to do and they took a finalsurvey of the house before they closed their bags. Two cabs werewaiting; one for them and the other to take their bags.
It was exactly three-thirty when they started for the airport. Thestreets were deserted and lights were on in only a few of the homes.Their cab swung on to a boulevard and flashed past the entrance of theAce studio. Janet caught only a glimpse of the plant, but she felt aqueer tightening of her heart, and she wondered if she had been wise indeciding to leave Hollywood. But it was too late now. She had made herdecision.
At the airport the big twin-motored transport was on the ramp, itsmotors idling and flickers of blue flame coming out of the exhaust underthe wing.
An attendant at the gate checked the tickets Henry Thorne held in hishand and they were escorted to the plane where their stewardess assignedtheir seats. The cabin of this ship was even more luxuriously furnishedthan the one in which they had flown west and Janet settled herselfcomfortably into the thickly upholstered chair. Their baggage was stowedin the tail of the plane and then she saw the pilots come out of theoffice.
They stepped into the cabin and walked up the narrow aisle to their owncompartment. Both of them were youthful and Janet wondered that they hadthe marvelous skill in their hands necessary to guide the huge plane onits flight.
Two more passengers hastened up to the gate and were escorted to thecabin. Then the stewardess checked the list of reservations. In additionto Henry Thorne and his party, there were only the two late-comers, bothof whom were men.
The motors roared and the plane rolled ahead, gaining speed rapidly.Before Janet knew it they were off the ground and soaring into a halflight of the early day. A blanket of lights unfolded beneath them, butthe lights were strangely dim and the plane headed away for themountains, climbing steadily to have safety in crossing the dangerouspeaks.
Night faded rapidly now and they were well into the mountains atsunrise. They were heading northeast, flying now over great stretches ofdesolate land where there was nothing but sand and sagebrush, andsometimes precious little sagebrush.
Salt Lake City was beneath them almost before they knew it and when theplane landed there Janet and Helen got out to stretch their legs whilethe crews were changed and the plane refuelled. Then they were in theair again, climbing once more to get above the continental divide andafter that came the descent to Cheyenne. Lunch was served aboard theplane with Omaha the next stop and they roared on east as the sun rolledwestward.
Janet was watching the landscape below closely now for this was her homestate--a land dotted with many farms and huddles of houses that were thevillages, tied together by strips of white highway and an occasionaltrain that seemed to be puffing along a ladder which had been laid onthe ground.
Almost before she knew it the motors of the plane lessened their roarand a town appeared underneath. It was Rubio, the nearest regular stopon the transcontinental line.
The giant transport settled down easily. Janet felt the wheels touch andshe looked eagerly through the heavy glass of the window for the firstglimpse of her father and mother.
She saw them on the ramp, gazing anxiously at the plane as it wheeled upto the concrete slab.
Janet, the first out of the plane, ran to greet them. Her motherembraced her affectionately and her father gave her a hearty hug.
"My, but it's good to see you!" he declared. "We've missed you so much."
"And I've missed you, but I've had a grand time," replied Janet, lockingher arms in theirs.
The Thornes came up and there were greetings all around. Then HenryThorne and Janet's father supervised the loading of the luggage into theHardy sedan.
The car was crowded, but they had so much to talk about and were soeager to say it that the inconvenience of short space mattered little.
Taking turns, Janet and Helen, rather breathlessly, told the story oftheir summer in Hollywood while John Hardy whirled them smoothly andsafely along the ribbon of concrete that led from Rubio to Clarion.
They stopped at the Thorne home and unloaded most of the luggage there.
"You're coming over to dinner," Mrs. Hardy told them. "Is six-thirty allright?"
"We'll be there," promised Mrs. Thorne, who was anxious for all of thenews of her friends in Clarion.
When they were home, Janet and her father and mother sat down in thecomfortable living room and she told them more in detail of heradventures in the west, of the making of the western films and of theirnarrow escape from death in the fire.
"We were greatly worried by the radio report," said her father, "but thecall from the Thornes reassured us."
Janet's mother spoke up.
"Are you going on to New York City?"
"Yes, mother. We'll only have a few days at home. Then Helen and I areto go on to New York for a few days for a promotional broadcast on Mr.Thorne's new picture, 'Kings of the Air.' You know, we had minor rolesin it and some members of the cast are being sent east to take part inthis promotion work. I think it will be great fun."
"But how about college?" her father wanted to know.
"That's one of the things I'll have to see about while I'm home thistime. Maybe you would drive Helen and me over to Corn Belt U. some timetomorrow or the next day so we could see about registration? We'll haveto arrange to enter classes late."
"We can go tomorrow," nodded her father. "I've arranged to spend most ofthe rest of the week at home. Mother and I want to hear _all_ aboutHollywood."
"I didn't see it all," smiled Janet. "But it's a grand place, at leastin which to spend one summer."
The Thornes arrived promptly at the dinner hour and they visited atlength over a leisurely meal. At eight o'clock Henry Thorne glanced athis watch.
"The manager of the Pastime telephoned just before dinner to say that hehad received a print of 'Water Hole,' a new western, and would add it tohis regular program tonight. Think you'd like to go?"
"Why, Janet, isn't that the picture you and Helen were in?" asked hermother.
Janet nodded and turned to Henry Thorne, who was smiling.
"I believe you had that print of the film shipped east on the plane withus," she accused.
"What of it?" he parried.
"Of course we'll go," said Janet's mother. "We'll leave the dishes righton the table. It isn't every day that I get such an opportunity."
Helen slipped away from the table and Janet could hear her at the phonecalling for Pete Benda, the city editor of the _Times_.
"Pete? This is Helen Thorne. Yes, I'm back in town. Drop in at thePastime this evening if you'd like to see the parts that Cora Dean andMargie Blake took in that western picture they wrote you about. No,never mind a story about us now. We've had plenty of publicity."
Helen hung up the receiver and turned to face Janet.
"Do you think that was nice?" asked Janet, but there was an upward twistof her lips.
"Maybe it wasn't exactly nice, but it was a lot of fun," conceded Helen.
There was just a tang of fall in the air and they slipped on lightjackets, deciding to walk to the theater, which was less than half adozen blocks away.
Janet's father insisted on buying the tickets for the party and they hadexcellent seats well down in the front of the theater. Janet thought shesaw Pete Benda slide into a seat ahead of them, but she couldn't besure.
The regular feature came to an end and the western, which had beenadded, flashed on the screen. Janet felt her pulse quicken as the titleand the cast of characters, with her own name under Curt Newsom's. Theaction started and she glanced at her father and mother. They werecompletely absorbed in the picture.
Janet enjoyed it thoroughly. After all, it _was_ a pretty good picturefor a western and the clothes Roddy had designed for Helen and her addedjust the right touch of smartness.
The action came to a driving climax and then the picture was over andpeople around them started to leave. As they walked down the aisle PeteBenda joined them.
"Congratulations, girls. That was a nice show. Say, where were Cora andMargie?"
"Didn't you see them?" asked Helen naively.
"Don't kid me," growled Pete. "Where were they?"
"If you had been looking closely at the crowd in one of the scenes inthe town you would have seen them," smiled Helen. "Better come tomorrownight and look again."
"Maybe I will," admitted Pete, "but if I do it will be to look at Janetand you. Say, what's this I hear about you going on to Radio City?"
"That's something that will keep," said Helen. "See you later."
On the way home Janet's father and mother told her how proud they wereof her work and she felt a real sense of elation, for compliments fromthem meant more than from anyone else.
It was well after midnight when she finally went to sleep in the bed inher own attractive room. Tomorrow there would be the trip to Corn BeltU. and then on to New York in a few days.
Janet Hardy in Radio City Page 15